Tropic of Capricorn

London: John Calder, 1964. First Printing. Hardcover. Fine-/Fine. First British Edition in the variant scarlet binding (also issued in gray boards, no priority known). 8vo: 316pp. Publisher's scarlet cloth, spine lettered in gold; scarlet dust jacket, designed by Guy Nicholls, priced 25s. About Fine (few specks of soil to upper board, nick to front end papers), square, tight and unread; brilliant, unfaded jacket, very lightly rubbed to spine panel tips. Shifreen & Jackson A21jj. First published, in Paris, in 1938; first authorized American edition appeared in 1961. During the late Thirties, Miller began writing a multi-volume work centered on his tormented relationship with his second wife, June, a project tentatively titled Capricorn. "The first book in the undertaking, Tropic of Capricorn, has often been wrongly categorized as part of a trilogy (with Tropic of Cancer and Black Spring). As Miller later remarked, the book more accurately serves as a 'vestibule' to the Rosy Crucifixion. In this 'autobiographical romance' (a term of Miller coined), Miller revisits the world of Western Union [for which he had wroked]—the "cosmodemonic telegraph company"—life with [his first wife,] Beatrice, and the frenetic but emotionally deadening series of affairs that appear in the 'land of fuck' interlude. June herself appears near the end in an ethereal, sexually and emotionally charged portrait, but Miller does not confront her directly as he would in the Rosy Crucifixion trilogy." (Literary Encyclopedia) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).